Into Shadows
by The Unlucky Mastermind
Summary: Kozmotis loved his daughter more then anything in the world. But he had to leave sometimes and couldn't take her with him. On one of these occasions, she disappears. Everyone, including himself, believed she was dead. But she wasn't. She's been fighting Nightmares for all these centuries. But what if she meets the Guardians? What if she meets the Boogeyman? (Rated T for language.)
1. Fighting Nightmares

**Okay, I know that the fearlings tricked Kozmotis Pitchiner into thinking that his daughter was trapped with them, but I started writing this before I knew and didn't want to edit it to fit the actual backstory. Just give it a try. I'll try not to disappoint you.**

Normal story

_Flashbacks, visions/dreams/nightmares_

**_'Thoughts'_**

_Writing_

_"Nightmares speaking"_

* * *

The cruel neighs of the Nightmare horses weren't far behind her. They were close-to close. For her liking.

One foot after the other. Left, right. Left, right. That was it. That was all she could do at the moment-run.

Shadow whipped her head around, her amber eyes searching the darkness for her enemies. There they were-about twelve feet away. And gaining on her.

She counted six. Six. Good. This would be easy. She'd taken them on by the dozens, often single-handedly. Six would be a snap...if she could get out of this alleyway and into a more open area. If fifteen hundred years of fighting fearlings alone had taught her one thing, it was to _never _fight in closed spaces.

There was a wall coming up. Crap. If ther had been no trash cans by it, she'd have been majorly screwed. But by some bit of luck, there were trash cans. She leaped onto them, hoisting herself up onto the wall and jumping over it. She landed and took off once again. Nightmares were still hot on her trail.

She found herself rolling down an edge, sliding out into the middle of a frozen pond. This would work. She could take them on here. She reached for her dagger, pulling it out of its sheath.

The blade was glowing, as well as golden. Solid Dream Sand. Incredibly rare. The weapon was one of a kind. She had taken it as her protection when she'd faked her death all those centuries ago.

**_'Clear your mind,_'** she thought. _**'**__**Don't think about anything else. Just the Nightmares. There's nothing but the**_**_ Nightmares.'_**

Her eyes closed as she breathed in and out, trying to calm her nerves. Staying calm and unafraid was important when dealing with these monsters.

She could hear the Nightmares surrounding her now. Snorts of hatred and hooves pawing the ground, waiting for her to show weakness and fear.

_**'Never going to happen.' **_She thought, smiling gruesomely, keeping her eyes shut.

Her eyes opened slowly, her body moving into battle position at the same pace. She had barely prepared herself for the fight when a single Nightmare ran at her, leaping into the air to harm her.

She moved with deadly accuracy. A flash of gold sliced through the Nightmare's middle section, reducing it to black sand which immediately fell onto the ice.

The first Nightmare was always the easiest. They underestimated her-the first ones. After that, it got harder. A lot harder.

They charged her. Shadow went into defense mode as she backed away, holding her dagger out in front of her as protection.

**_'Calm down. You've dealt with this many times. You're not scared Shadow Pitchiner. You have a job to do. There's no time to be scared!'_**

With a shout, she ran into battle.

The Nightmares were startled at first. They had not expected her to rush into the fight so soon. She even managed to get rid of one more. Two down, four two go. She could do this.

She pulled out of the fight, staring them down. Her breaths came in short pants from the quick paced attack she had just done. Her eyes locked with theirs. Amber against red. Hatred for happiness against hatred for fear. They wanted her to die. To suffer. She wanted the same for them.

The last four swarmed her in a tornado of black sand. She slashed and swiped her blade at them, trying to fight her way out. Nightmares struck at her bare skin, leaving patches of gray where the skin was bruised.

The Nightmares chuckled at her as they watched her fight them. _"You put up such a fight. And for what? A few petty children? Why do you fight us? You could join us," _the Nightmares suggested.

"Go back to the hell from which you came. Before I send you there myself," she hissed; her dagger drawing back for another attack. She paced in a circle, always keeping her dagger pointed out infront of her.

_"But surely Shadow,"_ the Nightmares continued, _"you would like to see your father again."_

This caused her to stumble backwards and fall to the ground. "What have you done to him?" she snarled. "I'll kill you!"

True to her word, she plunged into the Nightmares, slicing and striking down three of the last four. If they had done something to her father, well, she would never forgive herself for leaving all those centuries ago.

She turned to the last Nightmare, her eyes flashing with hatred. "What have you done to him?" she said through clenched teeth.

The Nightmare laughed. _"We did nothing to him. You did."_

She stiffened. "What do you mean?"

_"You destroyed your father when you left."_

"And you drove me out of my home!" she yelled, her fingers turning white with the force of her grip on the hilt. "See how that works?"

_"But you had a choice. You could have stayed after that fight. You chose to fake your death and leave. And everyone believed your were dead. Including your father. And it destroyed him."_

That got her attention. Had she actually-?

"You're lying!" she yelled, running at it and attacking.

The Nightmare hit her flat in the stomach, sending her flying away and skidding across the ice. She lost her grip on her dagger and it slid away from her.

She scrambeled towards it, desperate to retrieve the one thing she'd relied on for survival for centuries. A black hoof stepped on her hand. A sickening snapping noise and a searing pain burst from it. She cried out in pain.

_"Do you really think we'd lie about who our master once was?" _The Nightmare whispered in her ear.

She looked at it with fear and confusion in her eyes. The horse reared back and struck her, sending her into unconciousness.

* * *

**That probably wasn't the best ending to the first chapter I've ever written, but I've been working on this for three days, maybe longer, and wanted to just publish it. Reviews make me happy. And I update faster when I'm happy. But no flames please?**


	2. An Unknown Child

**Wow, thanks guys for the reviews and alerts. I really appreciate them. :)**

**Frost: Haha, thanks. I occasionally do cliffhangers, I enjoy the 'WHAT?! You can't stop there! What happens next?!' kinds of reviews I usually get from them. So expect them in later chapters.**

**Guest: Oh! Thanks. I'd looked all over, but I couldn't find her actual name. But your 'changed her name' idea is pretty good. I'm gonna use that.**

**Thanks to all people who read it, but didn't review. Hope you stick around for Chapter Two!**

* * *

Burgess was always a different place this early in the morning. Especially during Winter Break, when all the kids could sleep in as long as they wanted.

Of course, Jack Frost was not asleep. Being the forever energetic boy he was (Bunny was _certain _that he was ADHD), he didn't sleep a lot on most nights. This had been one of those restless nights.

He hadn't really even thought about where he was going. Ever since last spring when he had become a Guardian and had began to be believed in, he had spent every minute he could (when it was cold of course) in Burgess, Virginia.

But of course, being five-fifteen in the morning, no one, least of all Jamie and his friends, was going to be up.

That was probably why he decided to go to his pond. He hadn't been to it in a long time, ever since he had found out that it was the place he had drowned three hundred years previous to save his little sister. But that was where he was going now.

But the familiar beauty of his pond was marred with something horrible. Something he had hoped to Manny and back that he would never have to see again, or at least not so soon.

Nightmare Sand. Lots of it. In big piles, small piles, and in the snow surrounding it. What had happened? Was Pitch already growing strong? It had only been a year! Could he be back?

But…no. No, he couldn't be. What he saw then was worse then even seeing Pitch Black so soon after he had defeated him. He saw a figure laying in the snow. A human figure. Clearly female. And a child.

He walked up to her, and felt anger flood into his soul. She looked no more then eleven or twelve, and it was clear that the Nightmares that had been there had injured her severely. Her arms were cut and bruised, along with her face, as though she had been kicked. One of her arms was outstretched towards a gold dagger; the hand appeared swollen, as if all the bones from her wrist to her fingers were broken.

Wait…a dagger? Why did she have a dagger? Had she actually fought and beat the Nightmares? It would explain all the Nightmare Sand, and her injuries, and the weapon of course.

"Are you okay?" he asked, kneeling down next to the girl and shaking her shoulder. "Can you hear me?"

Her chest was rising and falling slowly, assuring him that she was not dead. She must have just been unconscious then.

"Uhhhhg."

He looked down. She was moving, coming into consciousness. Her eyes opened slowly, as though she was barely conscious. Jack was startled by her eyes. They reminded him of Pitch's…sort of. His eyes were cruel, full of hate, while this girl's were warm, and determined.

"Can you tell me your name?" he asked her, shaking the girl's shoulder again, trying to keep her awake.

"Se-Seraphina," she whispered, before going limp again as she slipped back into unconsciousness.

Jack sighed. Maybe he could help her. But could he? The only home he had was at North's workshop at the North Pole. While the other Guardians generally loved children, including spirit children (which he was sure this girl was, considering the weapon…) but even he wasn't sure they would be particularly keen to help an unknown (armed) child. But it was worth a shot. He wasn't about to let a child that seemed to have taken on several Nightmares by herself suffer her injuries alone.

He picked up her dagger, slid it back into the sheath belted to her waist, picked her up, and flew off back to North's workshop.

* * *

Nicholas North was in his workshop, shouting various orders at the Yetis.

"I don't like it! Paint it red!"

"Pink seat! Black is to plain a color for eight year old girl's bicycle!"

"Green dress! Doll looks better with green dress!"

None of these orders appealed to the Yetis, who had already painted the robots he wanted red blue, put a black seat on the bike he wanted to have a pink seat, and put a blue dress on the doll he wanted to have a green dress.

"North!"

North frowned as he turned around to see Jack running towards him, holding what appeared to be a young girl in his arms.

"Jack? What is wrong? Who is this?" He motioned to the girl in the young Guardian's arms.

Jack looked down at her. "I-I found her unconscious on the lake. There was Nightmare Sand all around her. She was injured. I think she might have fought some Nightmares and gotten injured in the process." He looked up at the older Guardian. "She called herself Seraphina."

North nodded and knelt to take the child from Jack's arms. She moved slightly, mumbling something that he could not understand.

As he and Jack walked to the infirmary, he was able to get a better look at the girl. She was definitely no older then twelve or eleven years old. Her hair was black as night, short, and messy. As though she'd gathered it into a ponytail and just chopped it off with a knife. She wore black boots, dark pants, a gray shirt, and a leather jacket.

"Here we go," he mumbled as they reached the infirmary and he walked inside, setting her down on one of the beds.

Jack looked at the young girl then back up at North. "She _will _be alright...right North?"

"Yes. Only broken hand. Nothing serious. It will heal."

Jack let out a breath of relief that he did not know he had been holding. He hated seeing people, especially children, harmed by Nightmares, whether in their dreams, or by physical injury.

On that note, he slid her dagger from her sheath and set it on the bed side table. No need for it to come out of its sheath and stab her or something. She was already in bad enough condition.

Having absolutely no knowledge what-so-ever about taking care of broken bones, Jack sat off to one side and let North patch Seraphina's hand up. As soon as the cast was in place, North stepped away from her and turned to Jack. "That is all I can do. Now we let her rest and when she wakes up, we ask her what happened." With that, he turned and walked out.

Jack nodded and looked at her. He wasn't sure why he cared about her, it was probably because he was a Guardian of Childhood, the Guardian of Fun to be more exact. Here was a child that was not only injured, but looked like she hadn't played in a long time. Double job for him.

He took one last look at the girl and followed after North.

* * *

**Okay. That chapter _really_ sucked if you ask me. My friends are saying I'm to hard on myself, but I really think it's crap. Ah well. I hope you like it anyways. ****Not sure if I want Shadow/Seraphina to just gain consciousness and wonder where the hell she is and meet North and Jack next chapter. Or if I want the other Guardians to come in. Tell me what you want. Again, sorry it's crap.**


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